So how did it go today?

I wasn't traveling by train today, and so unable to vent my anger at 'the man'.

I spoke to a Customer Services guy. They had clip boards and took down people's details and comments. I just basically outlined how it's going to affect people on the line and how it is already severely overcrowded and it doesn't make sense to cut the off peak service from Charing Cross when slots are available. The guy I spoke to said that a lot of people had come to talk to them about it that morning and that people had been polite but passionate about it.

I'm sure that The Mercury's timely delivery last night on people's doorsteps with it's huge headline about the train cuts also helped!

I was there at 8.15 and there was a big crowd - I assume most of them were there to talk about these changes.

I joined them to have my own grumble and as expected received some well practiced lines about lack of line capacity, the fact that it'll be a better service in the long run etc, etc.

I suggested that the changes hadn't been publicised locally and was told this was because LUL now run HOP station and Southern don't have the option to display such information. Even if that is true the lack of information on this major timetable change has been appalling - that line about burying bad news springs to mind!

I said to the guy I was spoken to that Southern's desemination of this information has been very underhand and he did the whole: I understand your frustration etc.

Thanks to everybody who stopped by. I really think it made an impression on Southern staff including Chris Burchill, Managing Director of Southern - who was present alongside representatives from Network Rail, and Caroline Pidgeon, chair of the GLA transport committee.

Chris was upset that the newspapers were portraying these changes as cuts. They are apparently not 'cuts', just changes to the start, end and mid points of journeys. hmmm

All their answers came down to 'it's not our fault, we are told which trains to run and to where, we have no flexibility over services, and there are lots of other demands on the line'.

Our next step will be to ask for a meeting with the DfT. I managed to get Southern representatives to agree that they would like to run 6 trains per hour in the evening if they were allowed to, similarly they would like to be able to run trains to Charing Cross. They did ask for these in the franchise consultation. So now we need to persuade DfT that there is no sense in running 8 trains on the East London Line to Forest Hill and only 6 trains from London Bridge.

The Charing Cross service will be even harder to save but the easy answer (from my perspective) is to open Cannon Street station after 8pm so that the South Eastern services can continue to use this route rather than pinching our routes.

There was a general consensus that we should be extending platforms to 12 carriages rather than stopping at 10 carriages prior to 2012. Southern would like platforms 'as long as possible' and would like to run 12 carriage trains if it were possible to do so. Caroline Pidgeon seemed particularly interested in the possibility of taking the platform lengths to 12 carriages. So we shall be pursuing this over the next couple of years.

Remind me - what is the reason given for the loss of our direct Charing Cross service?

I think the reason the charring cross service is being cut is because it would take a through train at LB much longer to load up its passengers due to the cut back in the service (6tph to 4tph).

With customers fighting to get on, half hanging out the doors, staging mini protests, fainting in the crush, etc, there is a good chance this train could hold up other services.
Better that all this is hidden away on one of the remote platforms.

But why the non peak service from LB is being cut is anyone's guess. This is the key and we still have no answer.

I was told this morning that the only thing I could do is to write at the Department For Transport.

Articles today in the South London Press and the Evening Standard.

Is it the Sutton or Caterham line services that we're losing due to the 'cuts?'

Without going into a lot of detail, it's the Sutton services that we are losing during the evening rush hour. The two trains per hour services to Sutton will no longer stop at stations along our line but go fast to Sutton.

It was great to see that Caroline Pidgeon, Chair of the GLA Transport Committee was at the meeting at London Bridge. This and the articles in the SLP and Standard are really helping to get our campaign out to a wider public.

I should correct my statement above to say that the Sutton trains will travel fast from LB to Norwood Jct (rather than direct to Sutton).

When you suggest to Southern that a simple solution to evening peak hour cuts would simply be to reinstate these trains as "stopping services" - they stare at you blankly and say "that just isn't possible".

Why not?

"Because we've already set out the timetable"

Ah, so those extended trains to Dorking and Guildford will no longer run and the off-peak services will run on the fast line instead, leaving us with 2x to Victoria and 2x to Caterham.

Once the ELL starts, I can see the logic in that passengers can change at Norwood Junction or West Croydon to Sutton.

I thought currently we have no direct service to East Croydon during the evening rush from FH, although it runs from there at that time, so I'll be interested to know where these new local services will terminate.

I emailed Jim Dowd about two weeks ago on this - not even an acknowledgement

Tried my spiel once again at Charing X last night, asked again at the info stand as to whether they knew the exact date when Southern evening services would stop going to HOP etc. Another blank stare first. I explained my question again to the same guy, he still didn't know but asked his colleague whether he'd heard anything about it. The colleague then told me that clearly I'd been misinformed, because they'd know about it if it was true. As they didn't, it obviously wasn't true. So helpful. I rest my case. Clearly, we're all just imagining these cuts! Hooray.

I doubt the info desk staff would be aware anyway as they work for Southeastern, although I expect a week before the changes are implemented staff and on the noticeboards will announce that customers will have to change at LB.

Oh well it looks like the Jubilee will get a lot of my custom from next spring, despite the longer travelling time via the ELL.

Coverage in the South London Press http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/tn/Ne...s%20review from the Meet the Manager session.

A letter is being sent today to the Minister of Transport signed by London Assembly Members and Lewisham Councillors from a variety of parties, as well as from civic societies along the line.

Is this true?

I'd love to know how many people did speak to them about this matter. I guess we'll never know!

No that they admitted to me. Of course if it is true it would be fantastic news, but I am a little skeptical that it is true.